Best Prime Lens to Buy in the Format

Rupert The Camera Man wrote:

yellodog wrote:

When you reference a disposable film camera are you referring to the image quality or the angle of view?

I meant the angle of view. The image quality of a disposable is what I'm trying to get away from:-D

That would be about 30mm in 35mm terms, and the Panasonic 15mm 1.7 is the best lens in the ~$500 range around this focal length. Small, light, fast aperture, great image quality, great build quality, fast and silent AF. Really there is nothing to dislike with this lens. Used it runs $350-450.

Other options:

Panasonic 14mm 2.5, dirt cheap, tiny, but a stop slower than the 15mm and not quite as good optically. A great choice if you want an absolutely diminutive lens. Used should be about $150. This is also a good choice if you want to get 2-3 prime lenses. A secondhand 14/2.5, 25/17 and 42.5/1.7 or 45/1.8 won't run you that much more than $500 total.

Olympus 17mm 1.8, also a good option if you want something just a little longer. Not known to be quite as good optically (ie: sharpness) as the 15mm, a but a nice lens in any case. A good alternative to the 15/1.7 if you can find it for significantly less money.

Longer still and you can get the Panasonic 20/1.7mm lens. This is a very good lens optically which is almost as small as the 14mm. It's pretty cheap used too, around $200 or so. The drawback of this lens is its slow, audible AF motor that can struggle to lock on in low light and may not focus in CAF mode. This was one of the first M43 lenses and as far as the focus motor goes, this one is quite outdated. That said, it's one of the most popular lenses in the system due to it's price point, size, fast aperture, and image quality.

If you want the FOV and image quality of a disposal camera, you can't beat the Olympus 15mm F8 body cap lens.